Love and Hate Aren't Far Apart
by Blue Truth
Summary: When Annabeth is holding up the sky, her heart is continuously being torn out of her heart by that scummy Hermes traitor. What happens when he goes too far, and Karma comes around and bites him in the butt? T for some violence.


**Name: Love and Hate aren't far apart. **

**Inspiration: The song, "Love the way you lie," By Rihanna and Eminem. **

**Summary: When Annabeth is holding up the sky, her heart is continuously being torn out of her heart by that scummy Hermes traitor. What happens when he goes too far, and Karma comes around?**

It feels like I'm holding up the world. Every speck of dirt, every cloud, and every building, I feel it individually. I know it's not, though. It's only half. I'm holding up the sky. My hands are numb, my shoulders and muscles screaming in pain. I can't breathe. I can barely stay conscious. Black is surrounding my vision.

"Annabeth." A calm, familiar voice says. "Annabeth."

I force myself to look up. I see a boy with brilliant blue eyes and scruffy blonde hair. "Luke!" I choke out. "Help."

His eyes are pained, but a stronger force takes over those clouded blue eyes. "No," He says. "I can't."

My arms start to shake with weakness. "Why?"

"Kronos wouldn't like that." Is all he says. "That would ruin the plan."

My knees go weak. I fall to the ground and cry out in pain. "Please. _Please, _Luke." I gasp. My lungs are being compressed by a trillion pounds of sky.

"I can't." He says. He looks torn. He seems to make a choice, and turns his back on me. A young woman comes into the room.

"Luke, the Lord wishes to see you. Something about a... transition?"

"Yeah. Of course." He says, and rushes out of the room. The woman looks at me. Her eyes tell me she's been here before. She follows Luke out, and I'm left alone.

**-o-**

My weight is lifted slightly. I open my eyes, which I had closed in an attempt to give up. Something had kept me from letting go. I don't know for sure what it was, but I have a feeling.

"You need some help with that, don't you?" There it is, the voice that tore my heart into a thousand pieces time and time again. I turned my head toward the voice.

"What do you want?" I say bitterly.

"To help you."

"I don't need your help." I snap.

Luke just stood beside me and eased himself next to me. His knees crumple when I give him a little more then half.

"How did you do this for so long?"

"I'm stronger then you think." I answer.

He looks at me. "I don't doubt that."

We stay side by side like that for hours, until the sun was peaking over the distant mountains. Luke tenses, and took a deep breath. "I gotta go. If anyone catches me helping the prisoner, I'll be killed."

I nod and prepare myself to take the entire weight of the sky. He eases himself out, and my burden is increased by thousands.

"Thanks."

"Welcome." He said, and walks toward the door. Before he leaves, he takes one glance at me. His eyes fall to the floor. "I'm sorry." He whispers, so low I don't think I was supposed to hear. Then, he exits

"It's okay." I whisper after the door closes. "I'll always forgive you, Luke."

**-o-**

"Girl!" A tall man comes barreling into the open-skied cavern. I look up, and my arms quake with the effort. Luke is trotting beside the burly man, his eyes full of pleading.

"What?" I wheeze.

"Did he help you?"

"Who?"

"This boy." The man says, holding up Luke's hand. "Did he help you?"

"Never seen him before in my life."

"Are you sure?"

"Posit-" I cough. I feel like I'm hacking up all the saliva in my body.

"Fine." The muscular man says. He goes up to me and laughs in my face. His breath smells like alcohol and tobacco. I feel vomit sliding up my throat.

"You worthless little thing." The man cackles. "You can't even hold up the sky and your head at the same time."

I hold my head up, and glare at him. "Look who's talking."

"Little girl." He says, and raises a hand. "You don't know who I am, do you?"

I glower at him. "Nor do I care."

"I am Atlas. I held up the sky for the past six thousand years. I wish to be free from my burden. I have planned this for many centuries. No one will mess it up."

I remain silent.

"I ask you again, did this boy help you hold the burden?"

I glance at him. I see the pain and pleading in his astonishing blue eyes, and I whisper, "No."

The blow happens so fast I can barely register it before the pain takes over.

"You feel that pain? That's what it feels like to be hit by a titan."

I look up at Luke. He looks startled, but he stays where he his.

He hits me again. The pain is overpowering. My arms are slowly falling down. I feel something sticky sliding down my face, starting at my eye. Luke looks horrified, but remains where he is. Atlas notices me staring at him, and he turns toward the boy with blue eyes. "Hit her." He says. "Hit her right now."

Luke's eyes go wide. "Sir-"

_"Hit her now!" _Atlas snarls.

Luke steps forward, and hesitantly raises his hand.

"It's easy." Atlas says. "See?" And he slaps me once again. The pain is incomprehensible, and blood is pouring down my face now.

Luke takes another step forward. He draws back his hand, and I stare at him. His eyes tell me so many things. Tears build up in my eyes. "Luke, please. You don't need to. You can be good again. You don't need to help them!"

"I do, Annabeth." He says, and the pain explodes in my face. The slap hurts more then any wound I'd ever received in my entire life. The tears pour down my face and the sky falls on my shoulders, and I get crushed under it. I cry out before I get a face full of dirt and a trillion pounds on my back.

"Annabeth!" Luke shouts.

"Stop." I hear Atlas demand.

A different voice speaks up. "Get away from her."

"Ah. Artemis. What are you doing here?"

I hear the _thwang _of an arrow beneath the crushing force. "Help her up."

I hear Atlas laugh. "You think I, the titan of the bearing the heavens, shall help the mortal?"

"You will." The calm female voice says.

"Artemis." Atlas says. "Good to see you."

"Not so much." Artemis says. "Help her up."

"Sir-" Luke says.

"I said _silence!" _Atlas roars. "Artemis, if you wish someone to help the girl, why don't _you_ help her?"

Footsteps coming closer. "It's _your _burden, Atlas."

"I'm aware. But the laws state that someone has to hold it, not just me."

A softer voice speaks only to me. "It's okay." She soothes. "How long have you been holding this up?"

"I don't know. Days."

She takes a glance at my beaten face before she takes hold of the sky. Her eyes go wide. Then, she helps me stand up again so I'm not crushed under the weight. She walks to Atlas, and I see her hit him hard across the face. Twice. Then she comes and helps me take the heavens.

"Go." Artemis rasps when she realizes just how heavy it is. "Get out."

"What? You can't-"

"I'm immortal. You aren't. I can hold this for as long as Atlas has if I try. _Go!" _

I do. I fall to the ground and my body feels numb and I groan. Despite the monstrous pain taking over my body, I drag myself up. I stumble over to Luke, and I look long and hard at him. His eyes are full of emotion. Depression, hate, anger, fear, and something I'd never expect to see in his eyes again; love.

"Annabeth." He murmurs. And I smack him. I smack him with all the force and energy I can muster.

"I lied." I say. "I'll _never_ forgive you." And I smack him again. He just stands there and takes the blows.

Someone grabs hold of the back of my ratty orange camp T-shirt. "Come on, Bethy." Atlas snarls.

I somehow manage to twist around and kick him. "Don't call me that!" I screech. "Don't you _ever_ call me that! It's Annabeth, not 'Bethy.'"

He just laughs and drags me to a far corner. He attaches something somewhat heavy to both my arms and legs. Nothing will ever be heavy again after what I just went through. I hear rattling, and a grunt in finality.

"There." Atlas says. "Your chained."

I don't bother to see the chains for myself. I know their there. I just stare at Luke, hoping my eyes tell him more then words could. He breaks the gaze.

"Luke!" Atlas growls. "Come with me. It-"

What seems like dozens of voices come shrieking into the cavern. I tore my eyes away from Luke, and I see Zoe Nightshade, Thalia, Percy, and Grover each carrying a weapon come rushing in. Atlas looks surprised, but he's only looking at Zoe.

"Daughter." Atlas states calmly. "You've come."

Zoe just charges Atlas. Her scythe is out in front of her and her eyes are furious. Percy starts battling Luke, and Thalia begins attempting to help Artemis. Grover is playing something on his pipes. I look around feeling helpless. I see Percy manage to stab Luke in the leg. He stumbles, and suddenly Luke is over the edge.

"No!" I scream. Tears flow freely now. "Not again!" This can't be happening. I can't let it happen. He can't just... _die. _

Percy looks stunned. I see a hand climbing up over the edge, and Luke's face for a moment. I yank against my chains, and find they are free from the ground. I see Zoe running away, and I silently thank her. I sprint to Percy's side, and I reach my hand out. Just before our hands reach, I freeze. I glance behind me at Percy, who's eyes are filled with dispiritedness, and a little bit of regret.

"Annabeth!" Luke gasps, struggling for a grip. "Help!"

I stay where I am, and my heart is torn. _What should I do? _I thought. _Please don't make me make a choice. _

Luke's fingers are slipping. "Help!" He begs. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just please help!"

Suddenly, I know. My mind is made up. I let my hand fall. "No." I breathe. "I'm not helping you. Not after what you did to me."

"I'm sorry!" He begs, and his eyes seem truthful.

"No, you're not." I answer. "You never were, all this time. Even when Atlas hit me, you just stood there and watched. You didn't stand up for me when I couldn't."

"Bethy..." Luke says, using my nickname from all those years ago. "I never meant for it to be this way..."

I take his hand. He looks relived multiplied by a million. I glimpse at Percy. His eyes are sorrowful, and the regret is showing clearly.

"It's Annabeth." I say. "Not Bethy."

I let go of his hand. I watch him fall, the look on his face I'll never forget. Fearful, confusion, misunderstanding. Then, right before he hits the ground, I see comprehension take over his face, and I look away.

What meets my eyes when I turn, is nothing better then what I turned away from. Atlas is holding up the sky once more, and Artemis, Thalia, and Grover are crowded around somebody. Percy and I rush over, and make our way to the object in the middle.

"Have I served thee well?" Zoe Nightshade is saying. Her stomach is covered in blood, and her eyes are fading. The glow she had when she came into the cave, is dying out.

"Extremely." Artemis says.

Zoe turns toward Percy. "You are not like Hercules. I am honored you carry this sword."

"Thank you." Percy replies.

Zoe looks at the sky. The same sky I held up just minutes ago. The sky that Atlas will carry long after I die. "Their beautiful, aren't they?" Zoe says.

"What are?" asks Grover.

"Stars." She replies, and goes still. Her glow goes completely out, and her eyes are unseeing. Artemis lets out a little sob, and she murmurs something in Ancient Greek. She waves her hand over the fallen Huntress, and a shiny silver mist is drawn out. She throws it to the sky, and I spot a new constellation.

"There." The goddess of the moon says softly. "A new constellation. It is the Huntress, in honor of my fallen companion."

I sigh, and Percy takes my hand. "Lets go home." He says.

"Where's home?" I say. "There's nowhere I belong anymore."

"Yes, there is. The one place where all of us belong." Percy says. "At Camp Half-Blood."

"I guess you're right."

"I did pretty good for a Seaweed Brain, didn't I?" He asks.

"Yeah." I say, and I glance behind me, at Zoe's body, and at the place where Luke fell. Percy follows my gaze and says, "He's dead. There's no way he could've survived that fall."

I don't say anything, I just trod beside him, which is all that needs to happen.

**-o-**

I jolt awake in my bed back at camp. I try desperately to recall the dream, but for some reason the dream, which moments ago I was living so vividly, is gone from my memory. I can only recollect one sentence, spoken by a tall man with a sense of pride around him.

"He's not dead," The man had said. "It would be bad if the Castellan boy had died. We mustn't let that happen."

Luke wasn't dead, after all. Somehow, I'm not surprised. That boy could survive anything.

I just don't know if I'm happy about that, or not.

And I guess I'll never know.

**Like it? I know you did. I loved this one. **

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!**

**And Please R&R!**


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